[1]There
is a story that while the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor, some American
service members ran to the armory to get weapons so they could fire back. They were met by the the quartermaster. The quartermaster was responsible for the proper inventory and procedures to check out and in the weapons and ammunition. So the quartermaster refused to let the service members take the weapons demanding: “Where are your
requisition slips?” They said, “We don’t
have any. The Japanese are bombing
us!” The quartermaster said, “I don’t
care who’s bombing us. Nobody takes
anything out of here without a requisition slip.” They eventually had to overpower the quartermaster to get the
weapons. While the quartermaster was
very conscientious in his duty, in this situation he may has been a bit too
rigid.
There
is a similar ongoing debate in the Gospel reading today concerning the purity
laws in the Israelite tradition. The
Pharisees and some scribes from Jerusalem point out that Jesus’ disciples do
not “follow the tradition of the elders” (Mk 7:5) when it comes to practices of
purity. Jesus chides the Pharisees, who
were more concerned with interpreting the Law than living its purpose: to take
on the mind and heart of God. They gave
God lip service, but not lived service.
Let’s
talk about tradition. The author of
Deuteronomy, emphasizes the privilege of the Hebrew people, chosen by God from
among all peoples to enter into an unprecedented friendship. Moses calls the people together to remind
them, “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to
observe, that you may live … (here’s the kicker) … you shall not add to what I
command you nor subtract from it.” (Dt 4:1-2)
The
problem with the Pharisees, they were pious men who took God seriously. So seriously that they tried to spell out, in
exact detail, what each of God’s commandments entailed. For example, the third commandment says, “Remember
to keep holy the sabbath day.” (Ex 20:8) Thus journeys were forbidden on the
Sabbath. They defined how many steps added
up to a journey? Hunting was also
forbidden on the Sabbath. So was it all
right to swat a fly? The laws were
originally meant to preserve the spirit of obedience to God’s will, but Jesus
saw that the letter of the law was killing the spirit.[2]
Positions
of authority, secular or religious, are more than a prize to be won or a place
to ascend to, they come with responsibility and accountability. Whether it is the President of the U.S. or
the Pope, a CEO or Pastor, a school teacher or volunteer minister, these
leadership roles demand embracing responsibility and being accountable to and for
the greater good and care of the community.
When there is distance between leaders and followers, between the rule
makers and those subject to the rule, crisis management most always ends badly,
often someone ends up dead. The death
can be literally, like Jesus on the cross, or some other form of psychological
or social death. The trappings of
authority, positions of power, is they can facilitate the expectation of
privileges which in turn can lead to abuses of positional authority. Often these privileges can lead to the
perception that they protect leaders from acknowledging accountability. It’s easy to make ourselves exempt from the
expectations and standards of all the “regular” folk when we are in charge. Leaders must model ALL the behaviors expected
of others. The Army often uses a saying
that goes something like this, you must “talk the walk, and walk the talk.” Personal exemption is unjust.
Deuteronomy
places obedience to God’s commandments in the context of a relationship of
love. In a love relationship, we want
the best for the other, even to the sacrifice of our own needs &
desires. Couple this with the exhortation
in the Letter of James, whose tone echoes that of Israel’s prophets: true faith
must be expressed in deeds. From baptism
we are called to put God’s word into practice rather than just hearing it. True devotion, fulfilling one’s duty to God,
is best expressed in the care of others, especially those in need and opposing
the forces of evil.
Pope
Francis’ 2017 Palm Sunday homily called us to show Jesus through our deeds, he
said: “He [Jesus] is present in our many brothers and sister who today endure
suffering like his own: they suffer from slave labor, from family tragedies,
from diseases … from wars and terrorism, from interests that are armed and
ready to strike. Women and men [boys
& girls] who are cheated, violated in their dignity, discarded … Jesus is
in them, in each of them, and, with marred features and broken voice, he asks
to be looked in the eye, to be acknowledged, to be loved.”[3]
Jesus
reminds us that we should respect the law, but not be rigid. The Ten Commandments are meant to be guides,
not chains. As he says in another place,
“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” (Mk 2:27) When we obey God in this spirit, his commands
become a source of genuine truth and life.
As we process to receive in communion let our Amen mean, I will walk the
talk.
[1] New American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition ©
1986. Scripture: Dt 4:1-2, 6-8; Jam
1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mk 7 :1-8, 14-15, 21-23.
[2] Sundays with Jesus,
Reflections for the Year of Mark by James DiGiacomo, SJ © 2008.
[3] Living the Word, Year of
Mark by Laurie Brink, O.P. and Paul Colloton, O.S.F.S. © 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment